New Executive Board member voted in – Plaid & Labour vote against

Conservative Councillor Andrew Atkinson will join the Executive Board and take over a lead member role after being formally voted to the position this afternoon.

Cllr Andrew Atkinson, who has represented Gresford since May 2017, was nominated for the role of lead member for youth services and anti-poverty earlier this month.

The nomination was put forward after Brymbo Councillor Paul Rogers announced he would be stepping down from the role to focus on ward issues.

Due to the political make-up of Wrexham Council and the Executive Board, the vacant lead member role has to be filled by one of the nine members of the Conservative Group.

Speaking at this afternoon’s meeting, Cllr Mark Pritchard, leader of Wrexham Council, explained that the council’s constitution states that appointments to the Executive Board are made by the Full Council and asked members to agree to Conservative Group’s nomination of Cllr Atkinson.

This was seconded by leader of the Wrexham Independent Group, Cllr David A Bithell.

The Plaid Cymru group voted against the appointment. Labour voted against as well, noting the move was ‘not personal’ but they favoured keeping the position vacant to save money.

32 councillors voted in favour of Cllr Atkinson being appointed to the role and 15 voted against. No councillor abstained from the vote.

He will be allocated his new role of lead member for youth services and anti-poverty at the Executive Board meeting in March.